Parse JSON with windows.data.json.h in C

Question

Is it possible to parse json data with the WinAPI windows.data.json.h header file?

I have looked at various sources of documentation such as:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/uwp/api/windows.data.json.jsonobject.parse
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/uwp/api/windows.data.json.jsonobject

And I have tried to get it to parse this simple file:

{"main":"Hello World"}

I got about as far as this:

#include <windows.data.json.h>

int main() {

    JsonObject(Parse("{\"main\":\"Hello World\"}"));

    return 0;
}

Before an error was thrown:

'JsonObject' undefined; assuming extern returning int
'Parse' undefined; assuming extern returning int

I also tried static JsonObject Parse("{\"main\":\"Hello World\"}"));but that failed also.

So this is obviously not the way to do it.

Can someone help get me started and explain how to parse that json with json.h?

I also found this but it is for C#.

Answer 1

@Simon,

I don't know how you set up your project, but all of the 'windows.' headers (windows.data.json or windows.data.text) are for applications using the UWP (Universal Windows Platform) API. So they will only work if your making a UWP API application.

Answer 2

As the Windows Runtime is built on top of COM, you can use those interfaces perfectly well from plain, native C. It is basically the same as COM, with a few caveats like class ids are actually name strings, and strings have to be wrapped up as a HSTRING. It is true that most symbol names may be quite long, as they hold namespace information. But you could typedef them to your liking, or use a macro to define a shorter name. All in all it's no biggy.

Here is an example I just made for you, in plain C. I compiled it with Visual C compiler and it ran just fine.

``` c

#include <roapi.h>
#include <windows.data.json.h>
#include <stdio.h>

#pragma comment(lib, "kernel32.lib")
#pragma comment(lib, "runtimeobject.lib")

static BOOL init_windows_runtime(void);

static void quit_windows_runtime(void);

static BOOL create_windows_runtime_class_instance(
    PCWSTR class_id, REFIID riid, void** object);

static const IID IID___x_ABI_CWindows_CData_CJson_CIJsonObject = 
{
    0x064e24dd, 0x29c2, 0x4f83, {0x9a, 0xc1, 0x9e, 0xe1, 0x15, 0x78, 0xbe, 0xb3}
};

static BOOL init_windows_runtime(void)
{
    HRESULT hr = RoInitialize(RO_INIT_MULTITHREADED);
    return SUCCEEDED(hr);
}

static void quit_windows_runtime(void)
{
    RoUninitialize();
}

static BOOL create_windows_runtime_class_instance(
    PCWSTR class_id, REFIID riid, void** object)
{
    HRESULT        hr;
    HSTRING_HEADER class_id_header;
    HSTRING        class_id_string;
    IInspectable*  inspectable;

    *object = NULL;

    hr = WindowsCreateStringReference(
        class_id, (UINT32)wcslen(class_id),
        &class_id_header, &class_id_string);
    
    if (FAILED(hr))
    {
        return FALSE;
    }

    hr = RoActivateInstance(class_id_string, &inspectable);
    if (FAILED(hr))
    {
        return FALSE;
    }

    hr = inspectable->lpVtbl->QueryInterface(inspectable, riid, object);
    inspectable->lpVtbl->Release(inspectable);

    return SUCCEEDED(hr);
}

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    __x_ABI_CWindows_CData_CJson_CIJsonObject* json_object;

    if (!init_windows_runtime())
    {
        return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }

    if (!create_windows_runtime_class_instance(
        RuntimeClass_Windows_Data_Json_JsonObject,
        &IID___x_ABI_CWindows_CData_CJson_CIJsonObject,
        &json_object))
    {
        quit_windows_runtime();
        return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }

    /* And there it is, your COM interface: json_object                       */
    /* You can set values using the json_object->lpVtbl->SetNamedValue method */
    /* You can get values using one of the json_object->lpVtbl->Get* methods  */
    /* Keep in mind that most of the parameters are Windows Runtime objects   */
    /* as well, meaning you have to do the above for them. Wrap up their      */
    /* class id/name in a HSTRING reference, create instance which gives an   */
    /* IInspectable interface, query that interface for desired interface.    */
    /* The header file windows.data.json.h contains all the necessary info.   */

    /* An example method call: */
    {
        HRESULT    hr;
        TrustLevel trust_level;
        
        hr = json_object->lpVtbl->GetTrustLevel(json_object, &trust_level);
        if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
        {
            printf("Trust level: ");
            switch (trust_level)
            {
                case BaseTrust:    { printf("Base\n");     break; }
                case PartialTrust: { printf("Partial\n");  break; }
                case FullTrust:    { printf("Fulll\n");    break; }
                default:           { printf("Unknown?\n"); break; }
            }
        }
    }

    json_object->lpVtbl->Release(json_object);

    quit_windows_runtime();
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
```